Hand-held paint rollers are commonly employed to apply paint to large flat surfaces such as the interior walls of a room and the exterior siding of a residence. Standard paint rollers include a handle, a U-shaped shaft connected to a longitudinal end of the handle, and a tube-receiving frame rotatably connected to the free end of the shaft. The tube-receiving frame is sized to selectively receive and maintain a tubular paint applicator.
By employing a U-shaped shaft, the standard paint roller centrally positions the tubular paint applicator perpendicular to the longitudinal axis of the handle. This orientation allows a person using the paint roller use a painting motion generally parallel to the axis of the user's forearm.
While the U-shaped shaft provides an ergonomic orientation of the handle relative to the tubular paint applicator, the shaft possesses some drawbacks. For example, the U-shaped configuration of the shaft renders it difficult to apply paint to a high horizontal joint, such as the joint between a wall and the ceiling in a room. Because the tubular paint applicator is cylindrical, the applicator cannot contact the wall and/or ceiling within the joint when the applicator is oriented parallel to the joint (i.e., the applicator is rolled towards and away from the joint). Paint can be applied within the joint by orienting the applicator perpendicular to the joint and positioning the free end of the applicator into the joint (i.e., the applicator is rolled along the joint). However, because the U-shaped shaft orientates the tubular paint applicator perpendicular to the handle, the user's forearm must be positioned in-line with the rolling direction of the applicator, thereby requiring the user to be elevated and paint from an awkward and uncomfortable position when painting an elevated horizontal joint.
Other drawbacks associated with the U-shaped handle occur when an elongated handle is employed to allow painting of elevated surfaces without use of a ladder or scaffolding. One such drawback is the difficulty in maintaining a distance between the handle and the vertical surface to be painted, which is sufficient to prevent the handle from contacting the surface and marking the surface. This problem is of particular concern as the length of the elongated handle increases because of the arch created in the elongated handle from the forward force applied in order to maintain the applicator in contact with the surface.
Accordingly, a need exists for an inexpensive paint roller capable of ergonomically allowing the painting of vertical and horizontal surfaces, including elevated vertical and horizontal surfaces, and vertical and horizontal joints, including elevated vertical and horizontal joints, while standing comfortably on the ground at all times.
Without limiting the scope of the invention a brief summary of some of the claimed embodiments of the invention is set forth below. Additional details of the summarized embodiments of the invention and/or additional embodiments of the invention can be found in the Detailed Description of the Invention below.